FLIGHT, 10 February 1961 173
Above, chimpanzee Ham being carried in his contoured couch on his
way to the Redstone booster on January 31. Right, components of the
space traveller's life-support system, including flight couch, top cover
and special clothing
Missiles and Spaceflight . . .
MERCURY MR-2 SUCCESS
A successful ballistic flight down the Atlantic Missile Range wasachieved on January 31 by the Redstone-launched Mercury cap-
sule MR-2 carrying a 37g-lb chimpanzee named Ham. Because ofa booster thrust described as "higher than usual," the capsule
overshot its planned target and descended into the Atlantic 420miles, instead of 290 miles, downrange. Maximum altitude attained
was 155 miles, 40 miles higher than scheduled; and maximumspeed over 5,000 m.p.h., about 1,000 m.p.h. faster than scheduled.
The chimpanzee was recovered in good health.
The flight was intended to provide a check of the adequacyof the Mercury spacecraft's environmental control and recovery
systems; and a first test of the functioning of the life-supportsystem during an appreciable period (almost 5min) of zero gravity.
Training of chimpanzees was carried out by the AeromedicalField Laboratory, Hollormn AFB, New Mexico. Chimpanzees
were chosen, rather than other animals, for their high intelligenceand docility, which made them "outstanding performers in the
conduct of complex tasks in restricted situations." Their sizeimplied a reasonable correlation with the human operation, and
the reaction time of a chimpanzee is close to that of a man.
The chimpanzee rode in a contoured couch inside a pressurizedchamber (see photographs). One hundred per cent breathing
oxygen was pissed into the chamber, and the outlet air passedthrough the spacecraft's environmental control system, where
impurities were removed before it was recirculated. During flight,biomedical information, sensed by electrodes attached to the
animal, was telemetred to the ground and simultaneously fedto an onboard tape recorder for post-flight analysis.
The Mercury chimpanzees had been trained to depress twohandles in response to light signals, with failure to perform being
"punished" by slight electric shocks, and a psychomotor testerof this type was included within the chamber. The main reasons
for including this test were (1) to determine whether this task couldbe carried out during launch, weightlessness and re-entry, and
(2) to try to discern any psychological or physiological effects.
Other equipment carried in the spacecraft included a 16mmcamera to record the functions of the cockpit instrument display
panel; a second camera to photograph the chimpanzee duringflight; temperature and pressure transducers; acoustical and vibra-
tion equipment; and a cosmic ray film pack. Telemetry comprisedthree aeromedical channels and one channel on which was trans-
mitted data from 90 measuring points throughout the craft(monitoring structural heating, cabin temperatures, pressures, noise
and vibration).
MISSILE PROGRAMME ACCELERATED
During his first State of the Union message to Congress, deliveredon January 30, President Kennedy said, "I have directed prompt
action to step up our Polaris submarine programme. Usingunobligated shipbuilding funds now (to let contracts originally
scheduled for the next fiscal year) will build and place on stationat least nine months earlier than planned substantially more units
of a crucial deterrent—a fleet that will never attack first, but possesssufficient powers of retaliation, concealed beneath the seas, to
discourage any aggressor from launching an attack on our security."I have directed prompt action to accelerate our entire missile
programme. Until the Secretary's reappraisal is completed, theemphasis here will be largely on improved organization and deci-
sion-making—on cutting down the wasteful duplications andtime-lag that have handicapped the whole family of missiles."
WORLD CO-OPERATION INVITED
One of the most significant passages in the State of the Unionaddress by President Kennedy to the US Congress on January 30
was the President's invitation to all countries to co-operate insp3ce exploration. This was expressed as follows: —
"This Administration intends to explore promptly all possibleareas of co-operation with the Soviet Union and other nations
'to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors.' Specific-ally I now invite all nations, including the Soviet Union, to join
with us in developing a weather-prediction programme, in a newcommunications satellite programme, and in preparation for prob-
ing the distant planets of Mars and Venus, probes which maysome day unlock the deepest secrets of the universe.
"The United States would be willing to join with the SovietUnion and the scientists of all nations in a greater effort to make
Xht fruits of this new knowledge available to all—and, beyondthat, in an effort to extend farm technology to hungry nations, to
wipe out disease, to increase exchanges of scientists and theirknowledge, and to make our own laboratories available to tech-
nicians of other lands."
Far left, the MR-2 capsule is hoisted up alongside its Redstone launcher.
Left, lift-off from the pad at Cape Canaveral on Tuesday, January 31,
with chimpanzee Ham aboard